The School of Technology Management offers a Ph.D. with concentrations in Information Management, Technology Management, and Telecommunications Management. The Howe School also participates in an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Telecommunications Management. Within these concentrations, students may focus their research on a number of more specialized areas in which the faculty has strength, including project management, innovation management, and systems integration. The Ph.D. program is primarily designed for full-time students; however, outstanding part-time students may be admitted.

Admission and Graduation Requirements for Doctoral Program

Students may be admitted upon completion of the master's degree or its equivalent. All applicants to the Ph.D. program must submit either a GMAT or GRE score. International students whose native language is not English must also take the TOEFL test. In addition to the GRE or GMAT score, applicants are asked to submit with their application a sample of writing, such as a published paper, a master's thesis, a semester project paper, or an extensive case study for which they were the principal or sole author.

To obtain a Ph.D., a student needs to complete at least 90 credits beyond the B.S. level. A maximum of 30 credits is awarded for a master's degree from another school. As part of their coursework, students are required to attend research colloquia (lectures) given at the Howe School by prominent researchers.

When certified for candidacy following completion of the written exams and all coursework, students are required to write and defend a dissertation in a selected area of concentration. It is expected that doctoral dissertations will make significant contributions to the creation of knowledge and the development of theory and practice in a selected area. Please refer to the Graduate Student Handbook for specific requirements.

The Information Management concentration is designed for highly-qualified students interested in careers in teaching and research in the management of information. Graduates are equipped to pursue careers in either academia or industry.

The concentration is based on the premise that information systems always exist within the context of a specific organization. Their effectiveness is greatly dependent upon the attitudes towards such systems of the individuals using them. With this in mind, students are required to take courses and seminars in information management and organizational behavior and theory. Appropriate preparation for this program is a Master of Science degree in Information Systems or its equivalent, Computer Science, and Telecommunications Management, or an M.B.A. Students with insufficient background in database management systems and organization theory may be asked to take introductory master's level courses for no credit toward the Ph.D. degree.

Typical Schedule for Information Management Ph.D. Students

The schedule below is an example of a schedule for a student with a Master's degree in Information Management or a related field. Core courses are shown in bold.

Note: *Course under development. **Students must complete these requirements before a dissertation proposal can be approved. Doctoral preliminary examinations may be written or oral at the discretion of the committee chair. Courses in bold represent the common core. Guidance on electives should be obtained from the advisor.

Students in the Information Management program select two additional courses or seminars from among the following:

• MGT 716/726/736 Seminars: Advanced Topics in Information Management and Technology Management
• MGT 777 Information Management Applications of Artificial Intelligence
• MGT 801 Special Problems in Management
• MIS 710 (formerly MGT 783) Process Innovation Management
• MIS 730 (formerly MGT 784) Integrating Information System Technologies

Comprehensive Examination in Research Methods and Management Theory

This is a comprehensive examination on topics of methodology and management theory covered in the core courses. Students entering the program with a Master’s degree are expected to take this examination after completing the equivalent of two years of full-time study in the program. This examination will be prepared and scored by faculty members teaching the core courses. This examination must be passed before students can begin their dissertation.

Qualifying Examination in Information Management

In the third year of the program, or after the completion of the first eight courses, students are required to sit for two qualifying examinations -- one in Information Management topics and the other in Organizational Theory and Management topics. These examinations cover topics in the design and development of information systems, information management and organizational theory and behavior, networks and distributed information management, strategic management of information systems, and the management of the information technology organization. These examinations are prepared and scored by the faculty involved in teaching these courses.

The Ph.D. concentration in Technology Management is designed for highly-qualified students interested in careers in teaching and research. Graduates are equipped to pursue careers in either academia or industry. A candidate for the Ph.D. program in Technology Management is expected to have demonstrated research competency in order to be admitted to the program.

Typical Schedule for Technology Management Ph.D. Students

The schedule below is an example of a schedule for a full-time student with a Master's degree. Core courses are shown in bold.

Note: *Course under development. **Students must complete these requirements before a dissertation proposal can be approved. Doctoral preliminary examinations may be written or oral at the discretion of the committee chair. Courses in bold represent the common core. Guidance on electives should be obtained from the advisor.

Comprehensive Examination in Research Methods and Management Theory

This is a comprehensive examination on topics of methodology and management theory covered in the core courses. Students entering the program with a Master’s degree are expected to take this examination after completing the equivalent of two years of full-time study in the program. This examination will be prepared and scored by faculty members teaching the core courses. This examination must be passed before students can begin their dissertation.

Qualifying Examination in Technology Management

This is a comprehensive examination on topics related to the student’s area of research emphasis within the concentration in Technology Management, e.g., project management, entrepreneurship, leadership, and teams. The examination is to be taken after completing the equivalent of two years of full-time study. It is designed to demonstrate understanding and competence in this area and is further intended to determine the student’s fitness to begin the dissertation proposal stage of his/her research.

The Ph.D. concentration in Telecommunications Management is designed for highly qualified students interested in careers in teaching and research. Graduates are equipped to pursue careers in either academia or industry. A candidate for the Ph.D. program in Telecommunications Management is expected to have demonstrated research competency in order to be admitted to the program.

Typical Schedule for Telecommunications Management Ph.D. Students

The schedule below is an example of a schedule for a full-time student with a Master’s degree in Telecommunications Management or a related field. Core courses are shown in bold. MGT 960 must be taken to satisfy the remaining 24 points of the dissertation requirement. Core courses are shown in bold.

Notes: *Course under development. **Students must complete these requirements before a dissertation proposal can be approved. Doctoral qualifying exam may be written or oral at the discretion of the committee chair. Guidance on electives should be obtained from advisor.

Students in the Telecommunications Management program select two additional courses or seminars from among the following:

• MGT 710 Risk Management
• MGT 716/726/736 Seminars: Advanced Topics in Information/Technology Management/Telecommunications Management
• TM 765 Selected Topics in Telecommunications Management
• TM 615 Wireless Network Mobile Computing
• TM 617 Next Generation Wireless Networks
• TM 618 Performance Management of Wireless Networks

Comprehensive Examination in Research Methods and Management Theory

This is a comprehensive examination on topics of methodology and management theory covered in the core courses. Students entering the program with a Master’s degree are expected to take this examination after completing the equivalent of two years of full-time study in the program. This examination will be prepared and scored by faculty members teaching the core courses. This examination must be passed before students can begin their dissertation.

Qualifying Examination in Telecommunications Management

This is a comprehensive examination on Telecommunications Management subjects. Students entering the program with a Master's are expected to take this examination after the equivalent of two years of full-time in the program. This examination will be prepared and scored by the Telecommunications Management faculty. The qualifying examination in Telecommunications Management is designed to demonstrate your understanding and competence in areas relevant to Telecommunications Management: fundamentals of telecommunications and quantitative methods for telecommunications; and two areas from the following topics: engineering economics, policy and regulation, wireless, and performance analysis.

Stevens has arranged an exchange program for Stevens graduate students with the Office of Graduate Studies of Business Administration at Fordham University, located at Lincoln Center in New York City.

This program enables graduate students at Stevens to enroll in advanced courses in accounting, finance, and marketing at the Graduate School of Business Administration at Fordham University, Lincoln Center, in New York. In turn, Fordham M.B.A. students can enroll in selected computer science and engineering courses at Stevens. Students register and pay for exchange courses at their home schools, and grades are sent directly to the Registrar of the home school. The School of Technology Management coordinates the program for Stevens.

Profs. Patricia Holahan and Edward A. Stohr
http://howe.stevens.edu/research/research-centers/technology-management/

CTMR conducts research on issues related to innovation and the management of technologies in a global context. Our mission is to develop concepts and frameworks to help executives address the challenges of a rapidly changing technology-based world. Research results are disseminated through publications, books, working papers, an annual conference, and sponsor forums.

CTMR supports the Stevens Institute of Technology theme of Technogenesis-the educational frontier wherein faculty, students, and colleagues in industry jointly nurture the process of conception, design, and marketplace realization of new technologies.

Prof. Edward A. Friedman
http://howe.stevens.edu/global/index.html

The Center for Technology Management for Global Development seeks to integrate the concepts and principles of technology management into strategies for economic development of nations, regions, and firms. Of special interest to the Center are research and education initiatives that promote economic growth in developing countries. The four areas of activity encompassed by the Center are: Education Programs, Policy Conferences and Studies, Action-Oriented Projects, and Field Initiatives and Research.

These four areas are interrelated, since field efforts and research serve to inform and enrich policy studies and education.

Prof. Peter Koen
http://www.ceconsortium.org/

The Consortium for Corporate Entrepreneurship focuses its research in optimizing the front end of innovation approaches for getting to breakthroughs and knowledge creation, and knowledge flow at the front end.

Its mission is to better understand the Front End of Innovation in order to increase the number, speed, and success probability of highly profitable products entering development. The Consortium offers a collaborative environment, where academia and industry are dedicated to the discovery portion of the front end, leading to high profits and breakthrough innovation.

In addition to funding from the Consortium members (Becton Dickinson, Ethicon, a division of Johnson and Johnson, ExxonMobil, Kraft, and Honeywell) monies are also received from the National Science Foundation to support the Consortium’s work in determining best practice in the front end. The Consortium works closely with the Industrial Research Institute (NRF), which is the largest organization of leading industrial companies focused on innovation in the U.S. With support from NSF, the Consortium is currently sponsoring the largest best practice survey, which is focused on the front end.  The consortium supports topical symposia, which in the past have included knowledge creation, intellectual property strategy, IT tools used in innovation, and making high-risk portfolio decisions. Upcoming symposia will include one on disruptive business models and virtual teams.

Dr. Lawrence Gastwirt, Director

The Stevens Alliance for Technology Management is an industry-university partnership founded in 1991 under the auspices of the Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management at Stevens Institute of Technology. Its mission is to help its member organizations adopt and implement more effective practices for the development and application of technology (in the broadest sense of the term) in their businesses.

The Alliance conducts conferences, seminars, and roundtable meetings, sponsors research on various aspects of the management of technology, and has also sponsored the development of the Howe School’s unique Executive Master’s degree program in technology management. Current SATM Sponsors, in addition to Stevens, are AT&T, the Columbia University Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, DRS, Infineum, ISO, Lucent Technologies, Teknor Apex, and the U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Center. Other sponsors over the years have included AlliedSignal, Bellcore, Engelhard Industries, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, GTech, IBM, Merck, Pershing, SIAC, and Unilever Bestfoods.

Prof. Jeffery Nickerson
http://howe.stevens.edu/CDT/index.html

The Center for Decision Technologies focuses on ways of improving human decision making through the integration of information. New technologies are creating new types of decision challenges. For example, increased use of mobile communication and sensing create situations in which we may actually change our movement patterns in order to facilitate our electronic communication.

Past work of the center has included research on transportation planning, mobile ad hoc networks, and human-robot interaction. Current work is focused on the design of processes related to sensor networks with applications to security and emergency response. The center is part of the Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management, and integrates the work of professors and graduate students in many disciplines in order to solve emerging decision problems.

The Center of Excellence in Business Process Innovation was founded in 2004 and belongs to a group of seven research centers within the SAP/IDS Scheer Institute for Business Process Innovation and the IDS Scheer Innovation and Education Network.
As part of an international academic and industry network, CEBPI conducts joint research with Queensland University of Technology in Australia, the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands, and the European Research Center on Information Systems (ERCIS) in Germany. Software companies IDS Scheer and SAP Research have designated the center as part of a 6-university Process Innovation Institute. Projects of the Center are funded by government agencies and corporate research bodies.
The center maintains a state-of-the-art BPM lab that is equipped with several commercial Business Process Management Systems and enterprise modeling tools. These systems are used for the development of proof-of-concept prototypes, showcases and demonstrations.
Our current infrastructure includes systems by IDS Scheer, Fujitsu, TIBCO (Staffware), Altova, Carnot, and Active Endpoints, which have been generously donated by the respective companies.